The rise in human population is related to the rise in global energy demand for value-added products such as gasoline, jet-fuel, diesel, and synthetic intermediates for polyester, polyethylene, Teflon, etc. Conversion of fossil fuels (e.g. natural gas, coal) to value-added products can be used to meet the growing energy demand. Given the abundance of natural fossil resources worldwide and the potential benefits of economic liquid fuel production, the fuel projects have seen some of the highest capital investments for a single fuel processing project worldwide. The cost-intensive nature of the conventional technology has led to considerable research in developing alternatives for fuel-to-liquids conversion.
Conventional technologies for liquid fuel production from coal and natural gas utilize a two-step process. The initial step involves converting the fuel to a synthesis gas (syngas) composing an appropriate H2/CO ratio that can vary from 1.0 for co-firing to 2.0 or greater for the Fischer-Tropsch reaction or methanol synthesis. This initial step, also known as the syngas-generating step, is capital and energy intensive in terms of the overall plant capital cost and the syngas generation efficiency, respectively.
As energy demands rise due to global population increase, developing systems and system components that can convert fuels efficiently are a necessity. This need also opens the opportunity to develop processes that can flexibly operate using multiple types of hydrocarbon feeds and/or can reduce the demands of conventional cost-intensive process unit operations.